Are you eyeing to spend your vacay outside Europe? Here is a suggestion: visit Australia. If you want to discover a diverse culture and beautiful sceneries, you won’t regret spending some time here. Australia is an English-speaking country, with a very competitive economy. Discovered and written about by Europeans since the 17^th century, Australia was always a place of different discoveries and stunning beauty.

Although the country is largely composed of vast deserts, Australia has its share of mountainous regions and tropical rainforests, meaning this country has a lot to offer in biodiversity. Some species unique to Australia include koalas, platypuses, wombats and different species of fresh and saltwater crocodiles. A visit to any zoo here will definitely be as entertaining and amusing. There are a lot of things to do and places to go in Australia even if you are traveling on a budget. Depending on what part you are in, you surely will still have your share of fun and the best out of Australia. If you are on the Gold Coast area, the beach is definitely a place to go. Swim, surf, jump waves or paddle swim your way to the best waves in the world. If you are in Sydney, a visit to museums and parks and the famous Sydney Opera House is a must. Don’t forget to take a picture of you with it on the background! And if you are on Melbourne, a free ride in the City Circle Tram will show you the best attractions in this side of Australia.

Although far from Europe, Australia is not excluded from a home exchange option. In fact, there are homes ready for a swap. You can check out Homeforhome.com for some options.  So if you want to have something different, then go for Australia!

On April 24 the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) announced that the global recession had led to a sharp increase in the amount of back-packing travellers making their way to Australia.

Although the predictions fore-casted that the number of visitors to Australia would drop by near on 250,000, the Council have said that they are robustly dealing with the issue, and that they are confident the the industry will make a full recovery.

“The industry’s been through SARS, September 11, the collapse of Ansett, and the Bali Bombings, and we have learned and got better at recovery every time,” said a representative.

The government has pumped 8.5 million Australian dollars into a grant to boost and innovate the industry.

But perhaps we need not worry considering that the amount of visa applications to travel to Australia have gone up by 20% from England and Germany.

So things are looking pretty sunny on the otherside of the globe. There is a sparky interest in jet setting over to those sandy shores, and there is a peachy market for home exchanges with Australia over here.

So Australia, welcome to our site! We hope the all the new coming Australian users will take advantage of the impressive and sustained tourism market over there to do exchanges with other parts of the world!

Doing a home exchange between Europe and Australia is sometimes difficult.

Let’s face it. It’s a long way to go. One of the problems that Australians would have with home exchange with Europe is that they often want to see more than one European country in order to make the most of the trip.

Which makes perfect sense. If you travel all that way, you’d definitely want to sample some of the rich tapestry that Europe has to offer.

But this should not be a problem though. Why not do two home exchanges? It’s not that difficult to co-ordinate. You spend a couple of weeks in France, a couple of weeks in Portugal, and then take a few days out to travel between the two.

From the other perspective, depending on the number of people that would be interested in this, the system could work very well. Australia is a popular destination for travellers, and generally people are interested in poking around in various different areas across the country in one trip. So, if a European family did a two week exchange in one part of Australia, they could then take a few days to travel around, and then reach their second holiday home exchange destination.

A trip between Australia and Europe could be costly, flight wise. So saving money on other expenses such as accommodation could definitely soften the blow!

Here at Homeforhome.com what we’re suggesting for the Australia Question is simply: double home exchange, two week slots.

But more than anything, we need to get talking about Australia. Who is interested in going there? Who knows people in Australia who would be interested in doing home exchanges? The Australia Question is a big one. But if we can facilitate cheap and comfortable holidays, cracking the big Down Under would be massive for our home exchange community. Massive!

If you´ve ever found the idea of Australians spending Christmas day tending the barbeque - or diving into their endlessly blue outdoor swimming pools - all rather weird and fascinating, then a Christmas home exchange might be right up your street. Alternatively, if you´re sick of the mildness of a British Christmas, with the weather flirting dangerously with the cold, yet never quite committing to the much longed for beauty of a “White Chrismas”, then you may also want to take a trip during the festive season. In Canada for example, they keep their fingers crossed every year that the season may bring them a rare and coveted “Green Christmas”. Hence, there´s more soft cottony snow than you can shake a stick at.

Although the idea of requesting a home exchange in order to spend christmas in somebody else´s house might feel a little strange, it´s actually a popular time of the year for home exchange. Most people take the opportunity for time off over the Christmas vacations, and it´s a special time to be with the family. So what better way to get that snug cosy touch than to spend Christmas in someone´s home?

You don´t have to worry about that clinical feeling of hotels, nor the idea of feeling a bit empty and away from what is familiar. Because you´ll be right in the centre of someone´s loved and cherished family home. It will be intimate and comfortable, whilst also offering you a wonderful new experience full of variety and spice, (and snow or sunshine, depending on what you´re after). It´s a great cheap way to have a marvellous christmas holiday, and is one of the many opportunities given by free home exchange.